But in spite of my unfamiliarity, it must be a ‘worthy’ word because “I read it in the OED!” There it was, ‘cunt-struck,’ under “CUNT (currency is restricted in the manner of other taboo-words): The female external genital organs,” in the hot-off-the-presses, December 11, 2008, OED additions list, under “out-of-sequence subordinate entries added,” right there along with ‘chai latte’ and ‘water-cooler.’
And when you say it fast it sounds a lot like ‘construct,’ but there is no denying that we’re talking cunt-struck, that it was chosen from among thousands of less worthy candidates to be included in this august work, that it registered ~ 2500 Google hits (not a huge number) at my coordinates, and that it is probably inappropriate for use in Sunday school classes.
Less surprisingly, it does appear in several slang dictionaries I checked (e.g. Cassell’s Dictionary of Slang, Oxford Dictionary of Slang, Partridge’s A Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English, and Spear’s Slang and Euphemism). More surprisingly, its been around since the 19th century (see quotes) and I’ve been around since the first half of the 20th – I guess I should have caught it. (>:)
OXFORD ENGLISH DICTIONARY
CUNT-STRUCK adjective coarse slang: Infatuated, especially sexually, with a woman or women in general (cf. love-struck) [[see ‘cunt’ above + Standard English ‘struck’]]
(quotes from Oxford English Dictionary and archived sources)<1876 “He . . . became in fact cunt-struck upon her.”—The Romance of Lust, IV. page 87>
<1879 “Changed from the gorgeous king to a buffoon, Be weak-kneed, cunt-struck, fucked-out Pantaloon.”— Harlequin Prince Cherrytop, page 29>
<1885 “He appears to have been really ‘cunt-struck,’ which, as I have before observed,
is one of the strongest infatuations that a man can have.”—Catena Librorum Tacendorum: Being Notes Bio, Biblio, Icono, Graphical And Critical, On Curious And Uncommon Books, by Pisanus Fraxi by Henry S. Ashbee, page 186>
<1891 “CUNT-STRUCK, adjective (vulgar) — Enamored of women: who may, in turn, be either cock-smitten or prick-struck.”—Slang and Its Analogues Past and Present by J. S. Farmer, page 230>
<1940 “It is more interesting, perhaps, when alliteration creeps in: ‘Fashioned and fed by the cunt-struck cravings.’”—British Book News: A Guide to Books Published in the Commonwealth and Empire by British Council, National Book League (Great Britain), page 231>
<1961 “I do not agree, for instance, that he is a philosopher, or a thinker. He is cunt-struck, that’s all.”—Tropic of Cancer by Henry Miller, page 4>
<1965 “We were all helplessly and hopelessly c. . . struck, a vulgar but forcibly accurate expression.”—Frank Sargeson>
<1975 “Were we to end our lives as cunt-struck doddering wooers left over from a Goldoni farce?”—Humboldt’s Gift by Saul Bellow, page 204>
<1992 “If a man seems interested in nothing but woman-chasing he is described as cagey, cock crazy, cunt-struck, fleshy, hard-peckered, horny, peach-orchard crazy, pruney, pussy simple, red-eyed, rollicky, satchel-crazy, twat-foolish, or twitchet-struck. [‘rollicky’ refers to the testicles or bollocks, as in the bawdy song ‘Bollocky Bill the Sailor.’]”—Blow the Candle Out: ‘Unprintable’ Ozark Folksongs and Folklore by Randolph &Legman, page 791>
<2003 “On the one hand, I was too inhibited; on the other, I was already terminally cunt-struck.”—London Review of Books, 21 August, page 6/2>
<2005 “. . . well aware that he had gone native and behaved no better than an unlettered seaman, becoming, in the seaman’s nasty but apt phrase, ‘cunt-struck.’”—A Brief History of Mutiny by R. Woodman, page 90>
<2006 “That's the British commander in chief for you, Captain — a cunt-struck buffoon
in gold braid epaulets!”—Valley Forge: A Novel of the American Revolution by D. Garland, page 133>
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A possible reason that I am unfamiliar with this expression, and one which the OED failed to mention, is that it appears to be mainly British slang:
SLANG AND EUPHEMISM (3rd edition) by Richard A. Spears
CUNT-STRUCK 1) Utterly fascinated with the sexual possibilities of a specific woman. 2) Sexually fascinated with all woman. Cf. cock-happy [both senses, British slang, 1700s-present].
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Ken G – December 22, 2008
